King pin reamer

[zoomer]

I guess I'll have to buy one, no one works on them anymore. I bought DJM beams for my 71. I bought the same kingpins and nylon bushing like were in it. Now I have lots of play! The parts guy says I should go with bronze bushings of course no one has a reamer or does this work anymore.
I'm perplexed on why this set up has more slack in it then the pins that came out with 111000 miles on them. Any ideas?

[flyboy2610]

IMHO, nylon bushings are a waste of money. Find a shop in your area (might have to drive a bit) that works on heavy duty vehicles, such as semi's and delivery trucks. A lot of those still use king pins, and the shop should be able to handle the work. There should be a shop in Charlotte that does that work.

[CV1186]

I have had the same problem finding a shop in my area that can still do the work. I have found a company that sells the correct reamer. Chadwick & Trefethen Inc., #09260 is an adjustable piloted reamer and lists for $93.93 its an expensive tool, but I have 3 different trucks and will use it more than once which to me justifies the cost, plus I learn a new skill.

[jimmy828]

I notice that you are not far from Rockingham NC. Call Jenkins's auto supply there . They use to do it. Worth a shot. Oh, tell Randy Travis we said HI.

[HIO Silver]

Call some machine shops. They'll blow the dust off their reamer and git ya moving forward. My shop reamed and installed new bronze bushings for $110.

[trickf100]

I bought and sent back a set of DJM beams because of this same problem. Try putting the king pin in the end of the DJM beam and check how much play you have. My factory beams had a nice "machine" fit and the DJM had 0.050 slop. The shop that reamed my bushings said that they wouldn't even recommend running them with as much slop as they had. He could over size them and sleeve them to the tune of a couple hundred dollars but recommended I send them back and request another set. I called DJM and they advised me that the slop would go away once you crank down the wedge. Not the right answer. Decided to just run it stock height and have a safe truck rather than an unsafe lowered truck.

[michael69]

I bought and sent back a set of DJM beams because of this same problem. Try putting the king pin in the end of the DJM beam and check how much play you have. My factory beams had a nice "machine" fit and the DJM had 0.050 slop. The shop that reamed my bushings said that they wouldn't even recommend running them with as much slop as they had. He could over size them and sleeve them to the tune of a couple hundred dollars but recommended I send them back and request another set. I called DJM and they advised me that the slop would go away once you crank down the wedge. Not the right answer. Decided to just run it stock height and have a safe truck rather than an unsafe lowered truck.

I have the same problem with mine,and yes the dumb ass at DJM told me the same thing. I don't think so. I have had mine several years so I know I can't get my money back. I am going to see if I can find a machine shop to put some sleeves in mine to make the king pins fit better. I will never buy from them again. I have heard everyone lately having same problem and DJM just tells them to tighten up the lock pin and all is good.....Horse ****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DuckRyder]

I have had the same problem finding a shop in my area that can still do the work. I have found a company that sells the correct reamer. Chadwick & Trefethen Inc., #09260 is an adjustable piloted reamer and lists for $93.93 its an expensive tool, but I have 3 different trucks and will use it more than once which to me justifies the cost, plus I learn a new skill.

Has anyone used this reamer? I’m seriously considering it.

[MadMike]

Only use a reamer if it is the correct Ford spec'd tool. Even then I would not recommend reaming.
Original Ford reamers will be long enough to fit into the opposite bushing to keep the reamer aligned in use.

However, reaming in itself is a bit destructive to the bushing. It tears at the bushing material which can leave low spots. If you have ever watched a flat blade remove material from metal using a microscope you will see that the blade is more peeling the unwanted material away. It's like watching someone cut and peel fudge.

Iscar Chip Formation

If you will note, at the tip of the cutting blade there is a buildup of material and the blade itself isn't cutting, it acts more like a wedge and the material peels away. Also that buildup of material eventually gives way and leaves a blob and step in the cut material. This leaves high and low spots in the bearing surface. What happens is the high spots will wear down faster(since there isn't a uniform depth) which makes the bearings wear out faster. Grease, or any other lubricant, will not fill these voids and support the pin. This is not a pressurized oiling system. Once the bushing opens up a bit it will open up some more and allow hammering of the bushing which is just a vicious cycle of beating the crap out of the bushing and making it sloppy again.

I highly recommend saving yourself the trouble and have the bushings properly align bore honed. The pins/bushings are about the same size as typical wrist pin diameters. Any decent machine shop should be able to quickly hone your bushings. This will give a linear bushing/bearing height and keep the pins tight for decades, as long as you keep the bushings properly lubricated.

[Ohiotinkerer]

Had our local NAPA align bore mine and they are better than any reamed ones I have seen.....

[DuckRyder]

There is only one machine shop around here that I would consider competent, as a result they are usually beyond busy, but I will talk to them.

I’d still like to know if anyone has used the Chadwick & Trefethen reamer, they are typically very good reamers as I use them on barrel bushings, that particular one is a long pilot reamer so at least in theory it should allow reaming the bushings together.

[dtcohen]

Haha, it sounds like we are going through this together. I must have called 15 different shops trying to find one that could/would take on the job. Each shop either was a dead end “no” or they would tell me somebody else that “could” do it. Only to call the recommended shop to find out that they couldn’t do it or didn’t want to do it. I had one machine shop tell me that they wouldn’t do it because it was too much of a liability.

I finally found a guy with a machine shop that agreed to hone the spindles for me. I had already pressed the bushings in so all he had to do was the honing. It took him a few weeks to get around to it, but when he was done he only charged me $40.

As far as honing vs reaming, I think you are more likely to find a machine shop that will hone them. The correct reamer is a pretty specialized tool. Most engine shops have a sunnen hone. I am not sure why some recommend against having them align honed. I figure if honing is good enough for a piston wrist pin bushing then surely it is good enough for a kingpin bushing.

Daniel

[DuckRyder]

Yep, I called the one competent shop shop and he said he could do them in a few days if I got the parts.

So now that the parts arrived itis just a matter of getting the spindles cleaned up and getting them over to him.

[jzjames]

Hey DuckRyder, I know how you feel to finally find a shop to do the kingpins! And enjoy the nice tight front end when it’s done.